The morning after in Persepolis

Agreeing to "stay in touch" over Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke and Mohammad Mehdi Akhoondzadeh, Iran's deputy foreign minister, played diplomatic footsies at The Hague. The UN it seems so displeased over the current lack of progress of rebuilding Afghanistan that it called a one-day meeting to address the issue. Apparently without a hint of irony, Madam Clinton declared “I myself did not have any direct contact with the Iranian delegation.” She is hoping that Iran's leaders will make a humanitarian gesture over three cases that the U.S. has concerns. A "Bronx Gesture" is a more likely outcome given the tense and dysfunctional historical relationship. Afghanistan is seen as an opportunity to see if a decidedly mixed marriage can be brokered. In the end, it may all be just sour nothings.

Hope they have an airbag

The antilock breaks on the auto industry finally engaged this morning. General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner was the bug on the windshield as Team Obama unveiled it's plan for the industry bailout. GM gets 60 days and Chrysler gets 30 days to show they deserve to be kept on life support rather then being sent to the chop shop. Chrysler is facing the prospect of a shotgun mixed marriage of inconvenience with Italian automaker Fiat. The news struck Wall Street (which had already been driven into the ditch) like a deer in the grill. The Dow dropped 288 points, probably on the theory that drunk drivers are better left behind the wheel than sent to jail. At least one of the auto giants is likely not to survive. And the blind flailing industry shouting out for help has only "no man" to blame but itself.

How was that again?

Iraqi journalist gets three years in prison for "assaulting a foreign leader on an official visit." Time

Singing with the enemy: CNN

D.C.'s chief geek promoted to his highest level of incompetence: USA Today

Go to jail, go directly to jail

There is much chatter about the anitclimax that was Bernard Madoff's day in court. He pleaded guilty to all counts. Victims were allowed to speak only if they objected to Madoff's guilty plea. "I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for my crimes." Umm, no, he can't. To do that, he'd have to come up with the $171 billion in restitution the prosecutors want and turn state's evidence. But that seems unlikely since he is refusing to cooperate with investigators. He's facing a possible 150 years in jail at his sentencing hearing set for June 16. Madoff is looking at a long stay as a guest of the federal government. Let's hope he lives long for prospering on the trust of his victims.

Disputes already in progress

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Key Line -- The uncomfortable truth that love is not always a programmable enterprise: Time

Spear catcher for American's currently most despised: NYT

Laboring under the world's loudest albatross: WashPost

What do you call 300 jailed Pakistani lawyers?

The slowly evolving question would seem to be "does Pakistan have a future that doesn't end in tears and/or radioactive fallout?" The news coming out of Islamabad isn't reassuring. The govenrment, while agreeing to participate in monthly meetings with the Iranian and Afghani governments to discuss regional issues, is actively arresting would-be participants in a Million Pakistani March on that nation's capital. The contestants in this particular hair-tugging contest are the U.S.-backed but unpopular government led by President Asif Ali Zardari, and the slightly more popular opposition led by Nawaz Sharif. it comes down to a struggle over the fate of judges ousted by former President Pervez Musharraf. The opposition wants them reinstated. The government is invoking a legal remnant of the British Empire, Section 144 of the 1860 Penal Code, that prohibits the gathering of more than four people in public (which is probably more liberal than some interpretations of Shari'a law which would likely dictate that those four may only be male) and the arrestees include a bunch of Punjabi lawyers and a cricket captain. With Pakistan continuing it's implosion by inches, the question that remains is what will be left when that implosion reaches the Indian border.

Watching Watchman

The most subversive and seemingly unfilmable graphic novel ever made finally hits the big screen. It wants to be an important film. This is an adult film. It is not a first-date movie, nor is it a family-friendly film. This is not a film for children.

Indeed, this movie is probably what "The Dark Knight" imagined itself to be: a movie that subverts the whole genre. Forget 'with great power comes great responsiblity' ye who enter this darkened theater. Every last one of these caped crusaders has issues and those ostensibly charged with saving the world behave badly and fail spectacularly.

Whether Watchmen proves to be a game-changer in the formulaic story-telling of the superhero movie remains to be seen. Watchment is a worthy film and probably as close to a "Citizen Kane" as the genre has.